1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to networks for providing telephone calls, and networks for providing Electronic Mail messages.
2. Background
As is well known in the art, Electronic Mail (“E-Mail”) consists of computer generated messages and files by a sending party, which are intended to be electronically transmitted and read by a receiving party.
It is desirable to allow telephone customers to have access to e-mail messages in audio form while they are away from computers. The prior art has attempted to fill this need by providing such systems as the Octel™ Unified Messenger System belonging to Lucent Technologies, Inc. Among the noticeable limitations of that system and others is the fact that e-mail messages are only available through a paging system when a computer is not available to receive the e-mail message. Additionally, these systems require the use of Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems tied into a server having special software compatible with the particular audio e-mail system. As a result of the special hardware and software requirements, prior art audio e-mail systems are not available for general Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) customers.
To that end, it is desirable to provide an audio e-mail system for converting text messages to audio messages, which system is potentially available to the masses of PSTN customers who have e-mail accounts. And, this system should not require the customer to install any special hardware or software.